Star House

The Star House is an installation that made its debut at What the Festival 2017 and now pops up occasionally when least expected. It continues my explorations into the enchanting experience of space; how we perceive a space, how we experience a space, what is the threshold between out and in, here and there.

Star House is a tiny fairytale house from another world. It measures 4'x4'x6'; big enough for a few adults to hang out in comfortably, but small enough that participants must crouch, bend, shrink, and physically bring themselves down from the heights of adulthood. Inside, the floor looks like a rainbow of pebbles, but is soft and comfortable. The walls and ceiling are a daybreak mural, blending the boundaries of inside and outside. LED lights in channels along the sides light the interior.They can be switched to UV for a "night mode"; activating a second, daylight-invisible UV mural of Aurora Borealis and stars. It's a secret fort, a magic portal, a place to be Elsewhere.

It started as a sketch and a Craigslist find, seen below. I found this wee house for $50 on CL... I basically HAD to get it.

It underwent A LOT of cleaning, scrubbing, priming and painting.

The inside in "night mode"...

The floor was a million tiny pillows sewed into a carpet. It was beautiful and was of course instantly demolished at What the Fest... my own fault, really. Who makes a pillow carpet and brings it to the dusty woods?

Here's the part where I realized I'd made a grave error in taking on this project... Hence wine.

But so pretty!

Inside the house there was a log book for visitors to write in and a set of pens...

As you can imagine, this resulted in some very curious entries.

I also created a treasure hunt to go with the house for What the Festival... hunters borrowed keys that corresponded to locked treasure chests throughout the forest. Each one had a different Magical Merit Badge, along with a logbook to catalog all the finders.